The dispensing of prescription drugs has traditionally been initiated by the filling in of a prescription form by a physician. The prescription form was then given to the patient. The patient would transmit the prescription form to a pharmacy where the prescription was filled by a pharmacist. The pharmacist would fill the prescription by placing a required amount of the prescribed drug in a container. The information contained on the presecription form written by the physician was then transferred by the pharmacist to a label. The label was secured to the container into which the prescribed drug had been dispensed. The prescription form written by the physician was then maintained in the pharmacist's records to accound for the distribution of the prescribed drug.
One disadvantage of this system is that the patient must transmit a prescription form from the physician to a pharmacy. In addition, the pharmacist must then transfer the information contained on the prescription form to a separate pharmaceutical label. The label is secured to the container in which the drugs have been dispensed. A separate record keeping entry of the drugs dispensed by the pharmacist is generated by the pharmacist.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,129 to Lockhart discloses a pharmaceutical record and label system. In the Lockhart system, a pharmacist transfers information from a prescription form signed by a physician to a formatted label. The filling in by the pharmacist of the label simultaneously provides a label for a container into which prescription drugs have been dispensed by the pharmacist and a backing sheet which records the label information and includes supplemental data segments for recording supplemental information.
Additional patents including a record and label system for transfer of information to a label from a prescription form which has been filled in and signed by a physician are U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,089 to Lockhart, U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,523 to Haines, U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,547 to Burke and U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,059 to Minasian.
These patents similarly show the transfer of information from a prescription form to a record keeping sheet independent of the prescription form. The record keeping sheet includes a label for a container into which prescription drugs have been dispensed by the pharmacist and provides a record of the information recorded on the prescription label as well as supplemental information.
To dispense prepackaged drugs, the prescriber needs to prepare a dispensing label, record the dispensing of the medication by making an entry on the patient's medical record, and, if required by law or for internal control, maintain a perpetual inventory of the drugs dispensed.
The disadvantages of this system are that it requires the physician to interrupt a patient consultation to obtain the medication, make the entries on the label and medical chart and to write a prescription if the medication is not available at his office.